Good Social or Corporate Responsibility.
On this page we look at web accessibility from a Social or Corporate perspective. This focuses on those users with either disabilities, those with digital divide issues, the older population, people with low literacy, those with low bandwidth, older internet technologies as well as new or infrequent internet users.
These law has been designed to ensure that all internet users have a equal opportunity to use this technology. and include those users with either;
- disabilities or not,
- the older population,
- those with digital divide issues,
- those with low bandwidth,
- older internet technologies as well as
- people with low literacy,
- new or infrequent internet users.
These issues are discussed below in more detail.
Disabilities or not.
While the main emphasis of web accessibility is on those users with disabilities, it also improves usability from those for those users without or having temporary disabilities.
However having said this, in its 2003 report, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Survey of Disability, Ageing and Careers, stated that there were one in five people in Australia (3,958,300 or 20.0%) had a reported disability. In this document it defined disability as Disability was defined as any limitation, restriction or impairment, which has lasted, or likely to last, for at least six months and restricts everyday activities.
This document also indicated that these figures where consistent with those found in the 1998 survey (1998 - 20.1% as compared to 2003 - 20.0%). These figures are also comparable to those statistics found in the US.
In the WebAIM training material, The Guide to Web Accessibility it states Though estimates vary, most studies find that about one fifth (20%) of the population has some kind of disability. Not all of these people have disabilities that make it difficult for them to access the Internet. For example, a person whose legs are paralyzed can still navigate a Web site without any disability-related difficulty. Still, if only half-or even a quarter-of these individuals have disabilities that affect their ability to access the Internet, this is a significant portion of the population.
For this reason, businesses, corporations and organizations, especially those involved in international markets, should not ignore this section of the population when considering their web development. Again in the WebAIM training document, The Guide to Web Accessibility - Introduction to Web Accessibility, it states Businesses would be unwise to purposely exclude 20, 10 or even 5 percent of their potential customers from their Web sites. Schools, universities, and government entities would be not only unwise, but, in many countries, they would also be breaking the law if they did so.
To check Australian Legislation, select this option, which will open a new page.
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The Older Population
As we grow older, most of us will experience changes to our vision, hearing, dexterity and our memories, even if we are unwilling to admit it. Some of the things that need to be consider when developing your web site include:-
- that there is sufficient contrast between the foreground and background colours,
- that text size defined using relative units rather than absolute units to allow the text font size to be increased by the users,
- try to use fonts on your web pages that are most readable fonts and unfortunately, this is more easily said than done. Experts do not always agree which fonts are the most readable or which ones are most appropriate for Web use.
- ensure that text and images do not blink or flash at speeds which could cause those users with epilepsy to have an attack and
- for those with dexterity issues using a mouse, provide short cut keys to allow them to use the keyboard in lieu of a mouse.
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The Digital Divide Issues
There are many people, both with and without disabilities that are affected by the same economic and social factors, such as being unemployed or in low income brackets and these factors along with the physical environment and computer technologies, can result in:-
- a lack of access to mainstream web technologies - browsers, hardware etc.,
- the inability to access assistive technologies and the ability to have or the ability to obtain up-to-date versions of these technologies,
- limited access to a social environment that encourages web use e.g. local libraries.
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Low Bandwidth
By using accessibility techniques when developing your web site can provide some benefit users with low bandwith. Some of the reasons for low bandwidth can be attributed to;
- the users location which, in Australia, would be most rural and remote townships although there are steps being taken to address this issue,
- access to the connection technologies required to get the higher bandwidth (cable, mobile phones and saterlite etc.,) in these areas and,
- the financal means to obtain higher bandwidth.
Those users, forced or otherwise, to use older technologies find that the web pages load slowly and that these technologies are not able to support the newer features in web technologies. Again developing an accessible web site assists these users to be active internet participants.
